Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 12: Conversations at the Ministry

4 November 1994
The Wizengamot Chamber

As Artemus Podmore fiddled with the papers on his small desk in the Wilkes Box, Harry sat next to him placidly. The young Lord Wilkes was wearing his best formal robes, but as his solicitor and proxy was on hand to speak for his House, Harry himself was not obligated to wear the official Wizengamot attire. While Harry enjoyed the power that came from the Lordship of an Ancient and Noble House, he was not a fan of the "uniform" that was expected of those who actually sat in these chairs to cast votes. The plum-colored robes did not go well with his complexion, after all, and the hats were utterly ridiculous. And if Harry needed any confirmation of that fact, he needed only to look across the chamber to the Potter Box, where poor James Potter looked miserable in his own ill-fitting plum robes. For over a decade, Peter Pettigrew had been the proxy for House Potter, and Harry suspected the day of the rat's appointment might have been the last time James wore that outfit. At least the robes didn't look moth-eaten.

Beside James sat his Heir, Jim Potter, who looked just as uncomfortable attending these august proceedings while wearing his school uniform. Apparently, all of Jim's formal attire had been sold during House Potter's "downsizing," and a school uniform was probably the nicest clothes he had. The two siblings briefly made eye contact from across the room. Jim glowered. Harry sneered. But then they were both distracted as the court scribe (a much younger man than the utterly ancient fellow who'd been in office the last time Harry had been here) called for House Potter. James rose stiffly, adjusted his collar nervously, and responded.

"James Lord Potter speaks for House Potter." James grimaced slightly before adding "One vote."

Despite his best efforts at occluding, Harry still smirked. Then, shaking off the vindictive mood, he looked around at the rest of the assembly. There were quite a few absences on account of the limited notice of the special session (and perhaps because, unlike the last special session, this one didn't involve the escape of several high-ranking Death Eaters whose escape from Azkaban invoked issues of national security).

Sirius was in the Black box, with Archie Goodwin sitting beside him and his proxy, Hestia Jones, in her own plum robes. ("I will disinherit myself and give up my Lordship before I ever allow myself to be seen in that hat!" he'd said.) Down in the well of the Wizengamot, a special table had been set up for various witnesses to be called. The three real Triwizard Champions sat there. Fleur and Viktor were each accompanied by their respective Headmasters. While Maxime looked bored with the proceedings and disdainful of the medieval ambience, Karkaroff looked visibly anxious to be here. According to Sirius, the last time Igor Karkaroff had been in the Wizengamot Chamber had been in 1981, and he'd been chained up in an iron cage after three weeks in Azkaban, so the room obviously held unpleasant memories. Cedric sat nervously next to his father, Amos Diggory, who seemed almost thrilled at the attention his family was receiving even if it was at the cost of his son's life being put in danger.

The final seat at the witness table was taken by Alexander McAvity, who seemed neither frightened like Karkaroff nor excited like the elder Diggory. Instead, the face of the Muggleborn "Dark Lord" seemed utterly serene, and Harry realized the man must be an Occlumens. A very skilled Occlumens, it seemed, because when Harry focused his Legilimency on the Australian, McAvity immediately tensed and looked up in Harry's general direction as if to see who was scrutinizing him. Harry looked away quickly and filed that information away for future consideration.

Elsewhere in the area reserved for Lordship boxes, Andrew Parkinson took the opportunity to visit his friend and liege-lord, Lucius Malfoy, as their own Houses had already been called upon. Along the way, he passed by the Nott Box, which was currently occupied by Mortimer Renwick, Tiberius Nott's solicitor and now his proxy as well, it seemed. Parkinson sat down beside Lucius as the latter engaged the extensive privacy protections afforded to each House's box.